Where's your flute Greg

RIP Hugh Masekela

The most soulful musician you never heard of

We'll let him tell his own story

Happy birthday Dr. King

Jazzy Belle

Git down girl go head git down

So the answer is more women in power huh?

Give me a fuckin break.

Let's not act like there isn't a whole culture built around gaining access to powerful men and their money.  So please understand that women can be equally bad actors as men. Not to diminish the victimization of women who, through no fault of their own, were subjected to assault and abuse, let's be clear that men are not the only abusers here.  Do these men think they were in an environment where certain behavior is not only tolerated, but it is expected?   Or do they not care anymore and have simply become predators on society where no one is safe?  Every homeboy in America knows it is a look but don't touch proposition when you are on the hunt for companionship. Pop out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel with no power if you want to; you are going straight to the county lockup. 

We only hear about the occasions where it all goes bad, what about the times when consent is mutual.  The one instance in the news is not the only time these "powerful" men did this.  This is their go to move, their shtick, they have practiced this move many times. There has to be a percentage of time where the move worked to everybody's satisfaction. What did it cost not only them but us?  Is every vote a vote of conscience or maybe a few votes were used to avoid a scandal or two.

This is about more than sexual victimization of women.  This is about who has power, how it gets used and who has access to it.

Now we are talking about digging up the Bill Clinton sex scandal. From my recollection Monica Lewinsky was not only of legal age, but she was also the pursuer.  Maybe there is an unwritten rule that says the commander in chief shall not get blow jobs from young interns in a closet off of the oval office, but I am just not seeing the victimization part of this.  At least not until the media got a hold of the story, then she really became a victim.

So if we are going to have a comprehensive acknowledgement of the abuses that are prevalent in society let's get them all.  Let's not stop at power drunk politicians that think they can cop a feel, or worse, whenever they feel the need and get away with it because they are untouchable.  Maybe you never hear of women abusing their power because they are just better at not getting caught. Maybe women make better elected officials or maybe they don't.  Maybe we should try electing a few golddiggers to office; or maybe we already have and just don't know it yet.

To paraphrase Warren Buffet, you have to dig where the gold is, not where the gold ain't. 

She ain't messin with no broke niggas

As if

The tyranny of feminism

As the son of a mother, the brother of sisters, the father of daughters the nephew of aunts and the uncle nieces, born into a family that has been matriarchal since before my grandmother was born let me say this in the most delicate way possible; y'all have gone to fuckin far with this shit.

You need to stop yourselves now.  If allowed to continue to it's logical conclusion, we are headed to nothing short of  internment camps for men to be held as breeders until women can figure out how to reproduce without us.

Now Funnyman /Senator Al Franken done caught a case of sexual harassment.  At least he has the good sense to try to get out in front of this thing.  Senators are a dime a dozen, but funnymen are hard to come by.  As long as the joke is funny you get a lot of leeway.  I just hope there isn't a long list of aggrieved partners in his history standing in the wings waiting to come forward (for his sake and ours).

There is no logical end to this thing.  Every man alive is guilty of harassment if you go back far enough to include pulling the pig tails of the little girl you liked in kindergarten.  You were too young to understand your feelings so instead of asking her to be your girlfriend you just beat her up; or what's just as likely, got beat up by her. Males are frequently confused by females, and I suppose vice versa as well. Let's not make that a crime.

There are gradations of infractions and this march to make everything black and white serves no one.  There is a difference between being a garden variety boor and trolling the mall for underage girls on the regular. There is a difference between taking a drunken shot at a girl who is out of your league versus using your power as an employer to manipulate young women into compromising situations. Trying to get a female's attention with inappropriate methods should not result in a death sentence in every case.

Women, as well as some men, are right to use the current moment to focus attention on that which makes them uncomfortable or worse assaults them.  And we as a society have plenty of room to grow into a more welcoming and comfortable place for everyone to simply exist as God created them.  But where is the line between a tired old pickup line and a catcall.  How are men supposed to break the ice with women they don't yet know.  My nonscientific guess is that the line "Hey Mama, you sho is fine" has lead to more marriages than E-Harmony. So don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Using the wrong methods in an attempt to gain the attention of a romantic interest is as old as human existence.  But so is using whatever power you possess to dominate, degrade and assault the object of your desires.  Make sure that we recognize that there is a difference between the two.